OT Devils3 Flyers2
He’s no Babe Ruth, nor Mark Messier, but Bobby Holik called his shot last night, and it cut the Devils’ Magic Number to one.
Holik issued a prophecy he fulfilled himself after nearly fighting Rod Brind’Amour at the end of regulation buzzer.
”I was telling someone, I won’t say who, who was challenging me, that I was going to score the game-winning goal in OT,” Holik told The Post after putting the Devils atop the Eastern Conference with his second of the night, the overtime winner in a 3-2 triumph over the Flyers at the Meadowlands.
”I was close to fighting a couple of times, but once I do, people will try to sucker me in. It think it’s better this way.”
Holik’s right-wing wrister rocketed between the legs of John Vanbiesbrouck with 1:33 left in OT, and lifted the Devils a point ahead of Ottawa for the top seed in the East. The Senators can only capture the title if they beat Carolina tonight and the Devils fall in Nashville.
”It wouldn’t be the end of the world not to finish as the top seed, but it’s right there, so why not?” Holik said.
The Devils will have the additional incentive of the chance to set the NHL record with their 28th road victory tonight in their season finale.
”We can still play better, and that’s a good feeling to have when you can win the conference and get the record for road victories,” said Holik, who had scored only one goal since Feb. 19.
Last night, Holik was back between Dave Andreychuk and Randy McKay, the familiar trio that has been as much apart as together this season. And Holik returned to his familiar, agitating style.
”When they play that [aggressive] way is when they play best,” Robbie Ftorek said. ”Bobby was his old self tonight.”
The irritation he gave the Flyers came back at him, and he responded by fulfilling his prediction.
”I practiced that shot this morning. It wasn’t a coincidence. Marty (Brodeur, backing up Chris Terreri) almost threw in the towel,” Holik said.
The victory completed the Devils’ home slate at 19-14-8, the first time they won so few home games in a full season since going 17-18-5 in 1988-89. They were 14-4-6 at the Meadowlands in the shortened 1995 season, and won a team record 29 at home last year.
Brian Rolston put the Devils in front, stretching his point streak to eight games, longest on the team this season. As he crossed the blue line, Rolston fired a slap that flew under Vanbiesbrouck’s glove for his 23rd at 12:47, a puck VBK should have stopped.
Holik made it 2-0 at 10:44 of the second, tapping in a power play rebound, after Lyle Odelein hit McKay at the goalmouth with a look-off pass.
Keith Jones started the Flyers’ comeback at 17:23 of the second with his 17th, a slap from the top of the right circle, short side on Terreri, past Ken Daneyko’s screen.
Despite playing without Eric Lindros and Mark Recchi, the Flyers tied the game on a rookie mistake. As a power play expired, a backpass hopped over the stick of Brendan Morrison at the point, and Marc Bureau came out of the box to harass Morrison and yank the stick from his hands. Morrison then tried to kick the puck away from Brind’Amour but only succeeded in giving Brind’Amour a 2-on-0 breakaway. The pass for Mikael Renberg’s 15th was simply a matter of completion.
Philly poured it on thereafter, but Terreri was superb, and when Holik had his chance, he did what he wasn’t doing this time last year, when he went his final 21, including playoffs, without a goal.
”As a competitive player, I don’t want to end up like I did last year,” Holik said.
If he’s getting his fires stoked, this spring might not end as quickly as last year’s playoffs did. *Devils open playoffs Thursday at Meadowlands, but may have to play second game on Friday night as NHL tries to engineer star power for TV on Sunday … Albany’s Ken Sutton was named AHL defenseman of the year yesterday … Roger Neilson coached his 915th game last night, passing Toe Blake for 10th place on the all-time list … Flyer assistant coach Wayne Cashman joined his team here last night for the first time since very serious surgery in January.
Devils complete the season tonight with first visit to Nashville, where Brodeur will probably face ex-Devil Mike Dunham. In addition to seeking the team’s NHL record 28th road victory. Brodeur will also try to tie Ken Dryden’s NHL record of 25 road triumphs … Devils lost first-ever meeting with Predators 3-2 at Meadowlands on Jan. 30 … Bobby Carpenter and Sergei Nemchinov sat out for the Devils … Lindros may miss the playoffs following lung surgery, while Recchi is out with a concussion.